Page 20 of Tempt the Dragon
A bloody grin spread across the guy’s face. “You’re all gonna die.” No sooner than the words were whispered, the blood was replaced by an eerie black sludge that he proceeded to vomit all over the place.
Aiken had no time to cursethe bastard for getting the sludge all over his custom-tailored pants and lambskin leather jacket. The hiss of vamps baring their fangs and preparing to lunge at him came loud and clear. Leaving the guy on the ground, he came to a stop and was about to do what was required when something pulled him backward.
The scene before him was clear, but unraveling as if he were watching it on television.Her grip had loosened on his shirt, but she was still holding him close. It took all of ten seconds for him to realize he was inside the chameleon’s cloak, pressed against the brick wall of a house. To any of the vamps on the street they would look just like the bricks that built the house. Mel’s chameleon power was a great hiding technique, but he was used to fighting his way through a battle,not sitting on the sidelines watching.
Vamps walked up and down the street stepping over the dead shooter and headed toward his truck. Thankfully, he and Mel had slammed the doors shut when they got out, and only another Drakon could open them. The vamps yanked on the handles, hissing and grumbling at their unsuccessful efforts, until finally a group of ten pushed the vehicle until it rolledover on its side.
Another few minutes of them trying to figure out where he’d gone and then a silver car pulled up slowly. It came to a stop in the intersection and two of the vamps that had been trolling the street walked over to the back window as it was rolled down slowly.
“They were here, two of them. We saw them from the security cams.” The tallest of the vamps had leaned down tospeak through the window.
“Where are they now?” That voice came from within the car. They weren’t loud but Drakon had super heightened senses that could be used whenever they chose.
Aiken didn’t use the preternatural hearing often, because it wasn’t always necessary during his assignments. Tonight, it seemed, he and Mel were pulling out almost everything in their arsenal to both stay aliveand get to the bottom of whatever was going on in Burgess.
“Disappeared,” the vamp answered with a shrug.
“Not possible.” The voice inside the car was angry. Aiken wondered if it was Duncan.
“Almost anything’s possible with dragons.”
“Not true. They get big, blow fire, break shit. That’s it. You had ample time to get to them before any of that could’ve happened. They’re gettingin the way!” It was Duncan. A quick twist in the pit of his stomach confirmed the hunch. Aiken always trusted his gut.
Turning to look over at Mel, he wondered what was going through her mind. He didn’t try to speak, wasn’t sure it was possible during a cloak anyway. She’d never pulled him into one before, so he hadn’t thought that was possible either. When she returned his gaze it was witha mirrored expression of knowledge. She knew this was Duncan too. For a split second he wondered if she’d break the cloak and grab Duncan, taking him back to the Collectors’ base to claim her bounty. She didn’t move and he was reminded that Mel was a woman of her word. She’d do what she’d agreed to do with Aiken and then she’d be gone from his life again.
“Bull! We got here as fast as we couldand if you’d taken care of them at the house last night instead of running like a bitch—” Whatever the vamp was about to say died quickly as a hand reached out from the window, grabbing it by the neck and squeezing until dust exploded into the air.
Seconds later, the car door opened and he stepped out wearing a long camel-colored wool coat over a dark brown suit. Wavy black hair was combedback from his face and hung down to his shoulders. His golden eyes pierced through the otherwise dark of night.
“Let this be the last mistake.” With a gravelly voice, he continued, capturing the complete attention of every vampire on the street at that moment. “I won’t tolerate any more interruptions and neither will the Chief. You know who they are and that they’re trying to stop us. Findthem and destroy them. Now!”
The order reverberated throughout the area. Mel’s hand at his neck, clenched the material of his jacket again. She wanted to break the cloak and so did he. They could grab Duncan right now and carry him back to the Office. But if they left the concealed cover now, they’d have to fight all the vampires before they could get to their target. There’d be noise, nodoubt, and a battle of that magnitude would be bound to draw attention of some of the humans living in the nearby townhouses—not that an ultrabright light, thousands of bats in the air and streams of fire shooting into the sky wasn’t enough to make a human take notice. Even though this district was predominantly vamps, there were a few of Burgess’s upper class living in those big historic houses aswell.
Another option was to break the cloak and shift into dragon form. He could quickly dispatch all of the vampires then while Mel grabbed Duncan. But that would undeniably cause an uproar in a city already on the brink of an all-out war of preternaturals in the streets, not to mention a ton of damage.
No. There was really only one option—to let them go and plan a better attack.
